It's not easy to communicate with outsiders when you're a Norwegian moving through the American prairies. But there are some people who travel with per Hansa's crew who know English… and it's a good thing that they do. Even the Native Americans tend to communicate in English.
But just because people know the same language doesn't always mean they'll communicate well. Take Per Hansa and Beret, for instance. They both speak Norwegian and have been married for years. But in reality, they probably communicate less with each other than Per Hansa does with most English-speaking people.
Questions About Language and Communication
- What could Per Hansa do to communicate better with his wife Beret? What could Beret do better?
- How does the language barrier between English and Norwegian affect Per Hansa's ability to defuse the angry Irish settlers? How is the matter settled in the end?
- Who in the Norwegian settlement can speak English the best? Why?
- What is the plan for teaching the young people in the settlement how to speak English? How does the school idea kill two birds with one stone?
Chew on This
In Giants in the Earth , we learn that lack of communication tends to end in violence, whether it's emotional or physical.
In Giants in the Earth, O.E. Rölvaag shows us that language doesn't mean much if you don't know what to do with it.